‘For ten years, she only loved Kael Roysten. What she loves is his modesty, integrity and nobility. But now, how could she give her heart to a slut like you?’

To his surprise, what Cesare said was surprisingly hurtful. The colorful, splendid past, which he was once proud of, now made his face burn so hot that he could not stand it; it was as if he was on fire.

He smashed and punched that evil snout with his fist, but Akkard knew it as well. The fact that he is the loser in this fight.

He wanted to dismiss everything Cesare said as lies. But Akkard suddenly recalled an old memory.

‘Why the hell are you rejecting me?’

It was not long after he first met Damia. Frustrated, Akkard, who had been pushed back by her, asked hastily:

‘What kind of person do you want?’

Damia was silent for a moment at those words. Then she quietly opened her mouth and answered,

‘The opposite of you.’

He recalled Damia’s voice sounding distant.

Only then did Akkard realize who Damia was thinking of then.

‘She … … Really, she doesn’t love you.’

Even though she already knew the truth, his heart was thrilled just sitting by his side, although he constantly fell into despair.

Not knowing that Damia was alone in her thoughts. When her red eyelashes were lowered, they resembled lilies*. [t1v: Red lilies mean eternal love and are used at weddings in China.]

Her face was so pretty it hurt his heart as if it was tightening. While Akkard frantically took in the sight of her as if possessed, an intrusive shameless thought came up:

‘When was the last time I embraced her?’

Having Damia in his arms once felt like a distant past; it was painful.

Even now, he could vividly recall her face if he closed his eyes. Tears welled up in those arrogant-looking eyes, and how pretty were her lips that she bit when she was overwhelmed with pleasure.

The moment he thought of that expression of hers that only he knew in the whole world, his body heated up. It was then that Akkard realized that it was the first time he had not held a woman for so long.

Throb-

In an instant, his body heated up like a fever. Akkard’s natural disposition was of a hot, energetic man. On top of that, his stamina also excelled in this area.

The other day, a diplomat from the eastern continent had seen him and said:

‘It’s a body full of yang energy. If you don’t want to get sick, it is better to expel it regularly.’

He wasn’t sure what yang qi was, but he agreed that it should be discharged regularly. Otherwise, his body simmered and grew stuffy, as if trapped in a narrow, hot tub.

For this reason, he embraced the women who came to him. Because no one woman couldn’t bear his overflowing tenacity anyhow or his overbearingness during those long nights.

‘But I can’t do that anymore.’

Akkard thought with a feverish head. He will probably never embrace Damia Primula or any other woman again.

When he didn’t know love, he could do it as much as he wanted. But once he discovered it, it was no longer possible. Because it would further degrade his still miserable love, which was already terribly defiled.

It was such an agonizing, bittersweet heart, but there was no way to convey it. The confession of a playboy like him carried no weight.

No matter how much he cuts out his chest and pulls out a bleeding heart, Damia would not believe it. The credibility of the name Akkard Valerian was only that much.

His irreversible reality made him silently despair. Yet, if he could, he wanted to get down on his knees at her little feet and ask her as if begging.

‘Do you still love Kael Roysten?’

No, no—This wasn’t what he really wanted to ask.

‘How can I get you to love me instead of him?’

… … He must have gone off the deep end—what a pathetic thought.

It was the moment when he was full of shame and ruffled his hair roughly. Damia’s depressed countenance suddenly emerged animated.

“Sir Akkard.”

Her blue eyes widened, gleaming with excitement, as she discovered something. Unconsciously, Akkard tried to follow where her gaze was aimed.

But Damia was a little faster.

“Obviously, you said that it rained ‘last night’, right? Not evening?”

“Yes, it suddenly rained late at night… … .”

“Yes, that’s it.”

After finishing the question and answer that he did not comprehend, Damia jumped up. And completely forgetting Akkard’s existence ran forward.

Akkard stood halfway up with her as if unwittingly trying to hold on to her. But Damia escaped from his grasp and flew away like a butterfly.

Towards another man, not him.

“Kael!!”

The name that came from her pretty lips made his heart stop instantly.